Reuters mentions that a report filed last year found that up to half the food produced worldwide ends up thrown out because of poor harvesting, transportation and storage methods. Irresponsible consumer behaviour also leads to food waste.
The discussion paper, put forward by Sweden and the Netherlands with the backing of Austria, Germany, Luxembourg and Denmark, will be presented at a meeting of EU agricultural ministers on Monday. It will ask the European Commission to consider exempting the labels from appearing on foods with a long shelf life. It will also encourage EU policymakers to find new ways of informing consumers on how to better understand labels.
There are also social, environmental and economic dimensions to the problem, the report says. “The need to reduce food losses and food waste is also closely linked to the principle that everyone in the world has a right to adequate food,” the paper says.
Food waste figures outside of the EU are equally staggering. In Canada, for instance, 40 percent of food goes to waste, In the UK alone, families throw out 4.2 million tonnes of food a year.
In at least one instance of a response to this problem, a former president of Trader Joe’s has opened The Daily Table, which has a sole aim of selling food past its expiration date and at a discount.
